U. MISSOURI (US) — Vitamin D supplements can help obese children and teens control their blood-sugar levels, which may help lower their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

“By increasing vitamin D intake alone, we got a response that was nearly as powerful as what we have seen using a prescription drug,” says Catherine Peterson, associate professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the University of Missouri. “We saw a decrease in insulin levels, which means better glucose control, despite no changes in body weight, dietary intake, or physical activity.”

For the study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers looked at 35 pre-diabetic obese children and adolescents who were undergoing treatment in the Adolescent Diabetic Obesity Program. All had insufficient or deficient vitamin D levels and had similar diets and activity levels.

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Study participants randomly were assigned either a high-dose vitamin D supplement or a placebo that they took daily for six months. Those who took the supplement became vitamin D sufficient and lowered the amount of insulin in their blood.

“The vitamin D dosage we gave to the obese adolescents in our study is not something I would recommend for everyone,” Peterson says. “For clinicians, the main message from this research is to check the vitamin D status of their obese patients, because they’re likely to have insufficient amounts. Adding vitamin D supplements to their diets may be an effective addition to treating obesity and its associated insulin resistance.”

Vitamin D helps maintain healthy bones, muscles, and nerves and enters bodies through sunlight exposure, diet, or supplements. Vitamin D insufficiency is common; however, it can be more detrimental to those who are obese.

Adding vitamin D supplements is a natural, inexpensive way to help obese children and teens decrease their odds of developing diabetes and avoid the side effects that might come from taking prescriptions to control their blood sugar, Peterson says.

“What makes vitamin D insufficiency different in obese individuals is that they process vitamin D about half as efficiently as normal-weight people.

“The vitamin gets stored in their fat tissues, which keeps it from being processed. This means obese individuals need to take in about twice as much vitamin D as their lean peers to maintain sufficient levels of vitamin D.”